• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제20권11호
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• pp.1491-1499
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• 2010

Rhizosphere microorganisms possessing phytase activity are considered important for rendering phytate-phosphorus (P) available to plants. In the present study, the Citrobacter braakii phytase gene (appA) was overexpressed in rhizobacteria possessing plant growth promoting (PGP) traits, for increasing their potential as bioinoculants. AppA was cloned under the lac promoter in the broadhost-range expression vector pBBR1MCS-2. Transformation of the recombinant construct pCBappA resulted in high constitutive phytase activity in all of the eight rhizobacterial strains belonging to genera Pantoea, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas (two strains), Rhizobium (two strains), and Ensifer that were studied. Transgenic rhizobacterial strains were found to display varying levels of phytase activity, ranging from 10-folds to 538-folds higher than the corresponding control strains. The transgenic derivative of Pseudomonas fluorescens CHA0, a well-characterized plant growth promoting rhizobacterium, showed the highest expression of phytase (~8 U/mg) activity in crude extracts. Although all transformants showed high phytase activity, rhizobacteria having the ability to secrete organic acid showed significantly higher release of P from Ca-phytate in buffered minimal media. AppA overexpressing rhizobacteria showed increased P content, and dry weight (shoot) or shoot/ root ratio of mung bean (Vigna radiata) plants, to different extents, when grown in semisolid agar (SSA) medium containing Na-phytate or Ca-phytate as the P sources. This is the first report of the overexpression of phytase in rhizobacterial strains and its exploitation for plant growth enhancement.

• Mycobiology
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.48-53
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• 2001

Plants have the ability to acquire an enhanced level of resistance to pathogen attack after being exposed to specific biotic stimuli. To obtain plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria inducing resistance against cucumber anthracnose by Colletotrichum orbiculare, more than 800 strains of rhizobacteria were screened in the greenhouse. Among these strains, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens solate EXTN-1 showed significant disease control efficacy on the plants. Induction of pathogenesis-related(PR-la) gene expression by EXTN-1 was assessed using tobacco plants transformed with PR-1a::$\beta$-glucuronidase(GUS) construct. GUS activities of tobacco treated with EXTN-1 and salicylic acid-treated transgenic tobacco were significantly higher than those of tobacco plants with other treatments. Gene expression analyses indicated that EXTN-1 induces the accumulation of defense-related genes of tobacco. The results showed that some defense genes are expressed by the treatment with EXTN-1 suggesting the similar resistance mechanism by salicylic acid.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.182-192
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• 2013

Numerous root-associated bacteria (rhizobacteria) are known to elicit induced systemic resistance (ISR) in plants. Bacterial cell-density-dependent quorum sensing (QS) is thought to be important for ISR. Here, we investigated the role of QS in the ISR elicited by the rhizobacterium, Serratia marcescens strain 90-166, in tobacco. Since S. marcescens 90-166 produces at least three QS signals, QS-mediated ISR in strain 90-166 has been difficult to understand. Therefore, we investigated the ISR capacity of two transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants that contained either bacterial acylhomoserine lactone-producing (AHL) or -degrading (AiiA) genes in conjunction with S. marcescens 90-166 to induce resistance against bacterial and viral pathogens. Root application of S. marcescens 90-166 increased ISR to the bacterial pathogens, Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci, in AHL plants and decreased ISR in AiiA plants. In contrast, ISR to Cucumber mosaic virus was reduced in AHL plants treated with S. marcescens 90-166 but enhanced in AiiA plants. Taken together, these data indicate that QS-dependent ISR is elicited by S. marcescens 90-166 in a pathogen-dependent manner. This study provides insight into QS-dependent ISR in tobacco elicited by S. marcescens 90-166.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.280-286
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• 2007

We evaluated a commercial biopreparation of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) strains Bacillus subtilis GB03 and B. amyloliquefaciens IN937a formulated with the carrier chitosan (Bio Yield) for its capacity to elicit growth promotion and induced systemic resistance against infection by Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 in Arabidopsis thaliana. The biopreparation promoted plant growth of Arabidopsis hormonal mutants, which included auxin, gibberellic acid, ethylene, jasmonate, salicylic acid, and brassinosteroid insensitive lines as well as each wild-type. The biopreparation protected plants against CMV based on disease severity in wild-type plants. However, virus titre was not lower in control plants and those treated with biopreparation, suggesting that the biopreparation induced tolerance rather than resistance against CMV. Interestingly, the biopreparation induced resistance against CMV in NahG plants, as evidenced by both reduced disease severity and virus titer. The biopreparation also elicited induced resistance against P. syringae pv. tomato in the wild-type but not in NahG transgenic plants, which degrade endogenous salicylic acid, indicating the involvement of salicylic acid signaling. Our results indicate that some PGPR strains can elicit plant growth promotion by mechanisms that are different from known hormonal signaling pathways. In addition, the mechanism for elicitation of induced resistance by PGPR may be pathogen-dependent. Collectively, the two-Bacilli strain mixture can be utilized as a biological inoculant for both protection of plant against bacterial and viral pathogens and enhancement of plant growth.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.360-363
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• 2006

Efficacy of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria(PGPR) Bacillus vallismortis strain EXTN-1 has been proved in eliciting induced systemic resistance(ISR) in several crops. The present paper described the beneficial effects of EXTN-1 in potato as increase in yield and chlorophyll content, and plant protection against Potato Virus Y and X(PVY & PVX). EXTN-1 induced systemic resistance to the plants resulting in significant disease suppression in the field. Also the plants under treatment with EXTN-1 had higher chlorophyll content. The bacterized plants had significantly higher yields over the untreated control plants. The strain induced activation of defense genes, PR-1a and PDF 1.2 in transgenic tobacco model, which indicated the possible role of both SA, and JA pathways in EXTN-1 mediated plant protection against crop diseases.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.7-12
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• 2005

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are a wide range of root-colonizing bacteria with the capacity to enhance plant growth and control plant pathogens. Here we review recent progress that indicate some PGPR strains release a blend of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that promote growth in Arabidopsis seedlings and induce resistance against Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora. In particular, the volatile components 2,3-butanediol and acetoin released exclusively from the PGPR strains triggered the greatest level of growth promotion and induced systemic resistance. Pharmacological applications of 2,3-butanediol promoted the plant growth and induced resistance, while bacterial mutants blocked in 2,3-butanediol and acetoin synthesis was devoid of growth-promotion and induced resistance capacities. The results suggested that the bacterial VOCs play a critical role in the plant growth promotion and induced resistance by PGPR. Using transgenic and mutant lines of Arabidopsis, we provide evidences that the signal pathway activated by volatiles from one PGPR strain is dependent on cyto-kinin activation for growth promotion and dependent on an ethylene-signaling pathway for induced pathogen resistance. This discovery provides new insight into the role of bacterial VOCs as initiators of both plant growth promotion and defense responses in plants.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제27권3호
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• pp.561-572
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• 2017

The global commercial cultivation of transgenic crops, including glyphosate-tolerant soybean, has increased widely in recent decades with potential impact on the environment. The bulk of previous studies showed different results on the effects of the release of transgenic plants on the soil microbial community, especially rhizosphere bacteria. In this study, comparative analyses of the bacterial communities in the rhizosphere soils and surrounding soils were performed between the glyphosate-tolerant soybean line NZL06-698 (or simply N698), containing a glyphosate-insensitive EPSPS gene, and its control cultivar Mengdou12 (or simply MD12), by a 16S ribosomal RNA gene (16S rDNA) amplicon sequencing-based Illumina MiSeq platform. No statistically significant difference was found in the overall alpha diversity of the rhizosphere bacterial communities, although the species richness and evenness of the bacteria increased in the rhizosphere of N698 compared with that of MD12. Some influence on phylogenetic diversity of the rhizosphere bacterial communities was found between N698 and MD12 by beta diversity analysis based on weighted UniFrac distance. Furthermore, the relative abundances of part rhizosphere bacterial phyla and genera, which included some nitrogen-fixing bacteria, were significantly different between N698 and MD12. Our present results indicate some impact of the glyphosate-tolerant soybean line N698 on the phylogenetic diversity of rhizosphere bacterial communities together with a significant difference in the relative abundances of part rhizosphere bacteria at different classification levels as compared with its control cultivar MD12, when a comparative analysis of surrounding soils between N698 and MD12 was used as a systematic contrast study.